Could MARTA rail service be extended into Gwinnett County?

CBS46 was the first station to tell you about Gwinnett County looking to improve it's transit option. The Connect Gwinnett study started last year and now options have been formed that are ready for public input.

"If they come on time we'd be on time and we'd be at the bus stop on the time it says and I think everything would be good," said Christian Taylor, a transit rider.

Gwinnett County has a population of nearly a million people with it expected to grow nearly half a million in 20 years.

Alan Chapman is the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation Director. He says his team has come up with several transit improvement options.

One option explores the idea of connecting regional transit systems. That could mean extending MARTA rail service into Gwinnett County.

"A short extension of the existing heavy rail from Doraville North into Gwinnett County to what would be a multi-modal hub that could tie the rest of the transit system into the heavy rail," said Chapman.

The fact MARTA is even making it to the table for discussion pleases some customers.

"So I think that would be a big option for MARTA to come into Gwinnett," said Chevy Reid.

The public will get to weigh in on these options over the next month at a series of public meetings. Other options include bus rapid transit which is similar to light rail service but cheaper.

"We are also proposing some flex service which is zones of service that have on demand buses because the area is not dense enough to support dedicated fixed route service," said Chapman.

All options are part of a 30 year plan depending on funding availability through possible taxes.

As for MARTA, Chapman says obviously that would involve a lot more people and approvals including a newly formed state transportation committee before something like that could move forward. But it is an option being put out there.

Police believe the 16-year-old suspect is the slain woman's brother and that he had been living with his sister and her husband, a Savannah police officer, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley told a news conference.

Police believe the 16-year-old suspect is the slain woman's brother and that he had been living with his sister and her husband, a Savannah police officer, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley told a news conference.

(John Wilson/KSL-TV/Deseret News via AP). This frame from video shows the scene of a small plane that crashed into a house in Payson, Utah, on Monday, Aug 13, 2018. Authorities said the pilot was killed in the crash.

His wife and a child who were in the home survived despite the front part the two-story house being engulfed in flames.